


A Flair for an Affair

by BringTheGoodOlBugle



Category: Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types, Original Work
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:35:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24871651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BringTheGoodOlBugle/pseuds/BringTheGoodOlBugle
Summary: Roven looks like an elf version of Ric Flair, and kinda acts like it to.
Relationships: Original D&D Character(s)/Other(s), Original Female Character/Original Male Character





	1. Chapter 1

A chilly wind swept through my hair, and the sound of dry leaves rustling brought a familiar comfort to my ears.The kingdom being in a state of perpetual autumn, a brisk wind and the sound of leaves were to be expected, but the leaves sounded almost less dry than usual. That might sound strange, but when you hear dry leaves for a hundred years, you can tell when they sound different. 

The odd sounding leaves were soon joined by a slight change in the wind, it seemed like the breeze was more humid, and noticeably warmer.

Then it hit me, the envoy from House Verrona of the Summer Court was due to arrive by sunset. It made sense to me that so many powerful eladrin from The Sunhold would have a bit of an effect on the fringes of our borders, where I’m stationed to greet them. 

It was less than an hour later when the clopping from the Summer Court’s great white horses could be heard. The first figure to come out from the solitary carriage was a figure I recognized, and I wasn’t happy to see it.

As the hulking frame of the triton Gill Lazuli squeezed out of the carriage, I could feel my face form a scowl, and I couldn’t keep myself from balling up a fist. I’ve hated Gill ever since the first time we were in the same tournament. 

If you ask me, he’s a big dumbass, who’s almost too strong. I’m strong, don’t get me wrong, but he seems supernaturally strong. And he really ought to put a shirt on. 

I greeted him coldly, addressing him, “Gill.”

He greeted me with a growled out, “Roven.” with a similar amount of contempt, at least as much as his dim brain could muster. After a few, short words, I mounted my horse and guided their carriage through the forest until we arrived at our capital, Cornucoochia.

When we arrived at our hold, I took my ceremonial place and waited for the formalities to be finished. After a bunch of pomp and circumstance, I took note of who composed their delegation. Besides the fish-man, it seemed like the group was composed of some diplomat I might've seen before, some guard who was driving the carriage, an older lady who seemed to be the princess’ maid, and of course, the princess, June.

It had been since the last time I was in Astrazalian that I had seen the princess, and back then I was newly instated as the Captain of the Guard, and I was more concerned with putting on a good appearance than focusing my attentions on the ladies of the courts.

Hiding my gaze behind my sunglasses, I took a few moments to observe the lady a dozen paces from me. She was tall and thin, just a bit shorter than me. She wasn’t dressed like you’d expect a princess to be. No flowing dress or extravagant outfit. Just a very well made outfit that seemed fit for a formal dinner or a wild brawl, which made sense considering House Verrona’s famous military focus. 

The feature of hers that grabbed my gaze for the longest time was her hair. It was a deep red, like an old maple tree’s. The way the breeze was blowing it back was almost entrancing.

Shit. I can’t be thinking that way about an engaged lady.

I must have been looking a bit too intently, because out of the corner of my eye I saw who must have been her maid giving me a look. Surprisingly, her look didn’t betray any vibes that gave me pause, she just seemed to note that I was looking at the princess. 

I gave my head a shake, and followed the visiting party inside, directing them to the banquet hall. 

If autumn eladrin had one thing in our blood, it was feasting. The lavish meal lasted for hours, with our chefs doing their best to replicate some coastal delicacies that were popular in the Summer Court. 

All throughout the meal, I kept catching myself glancing at princess June, and again, more than once her maid seemed to see my glances.

Our good king, Galfros, stood up after a few hours of feasting and spoke a few words.

In his regal tone he spoke to the hall, saying, “Greeting, honoured guests from House Verrona, and welcome to the halls of House Giltoris. My Queen and I are pleased to have you here, and our entire family is happy to begin fostering a relationship between our two proud houses,” He took a pause to wait for the polite applause to die down before continuing, “Tomorrow, after our guests have slept off their suppers, we shall have games in the afternoon, and then a ball in the evening. Thank you all, and goodnight.”   
The hall reacted with much more enthusiasm to this news, myself included. There was nothing I loved more than whooping some poor challenger up, impressing the ladies of the court with my feats of strength, and then dancing with those ladies later on during the ball. However, this time, I couldn’t stop myself from wondering if the princess would be impressed by my feats. 

Pondering the day to come, I headed to my chambers and settled into my meditation for the evening, wondering what would happen tomorrow. Hopefully things would go my way, and luckily for me, things usually do.


	2. Chapter 2

The day of the festivities started like any other. I headed to the guards’ office and stayed there until the games were to start, later in the afternoon. 

No disasters called me away from my post, and so I picked my lieutenant, Tullyarn’s brain about various matters about the visiting delegation.

Tullyarn was an older, well respected guard who seemed to have a knack for knowing things.

When I asked him about who composed the group, Tullyarn gave me what I needed to know, “Of course you know Gill, and the princess,” he took a second to smirk at my distasteful look when he mentioned Gill before continuing, “As far as I know, the guard is a young guy named Wade, a triton like your buddy. Word is he’s tough,” Tullyarn wouldn’t elaborate, “Then the older lady is a maid named Celosia, as far as I know, she’s been raising the princess for years, and the other man is an advisor named Geranium. Just your average advisor.”

I thanked Tullyarn before leaving him in charge of the garrison as I used my helmet to teleport to the teleportation. circle in the castle. 

I looked for Wrungis, one of our court’s senior advisors. I asked him what exactly I was competing in for the games.

With a faint smile he told me, “You’re in luck, Seldo, you’re to be facing Wade from the summer kingdom in unarmed combat.”

This brought a big smile to my face, I’ve been undefeated in unarmed combat since I took my captain position, and nothing made the ladies go crazier than seeing me all stripped down, beating up some outsider punk.

My fight with Wade wasn’t to be until the end of the games. Until then, I would stand with the royal family and the delegation in the royal box. 

I liked to use the excellent view afforded to me by the royal box to scout out potential recruits for the guard. The group of younger eladrin in these games weren’t the best I’d seen, but two of them seemed like they could be half decent guards, so I marked their names down. Hopefully Rochon Pannis and Dahlia Vagene would be suitable guards. In a few days, I’d summon them to the garrison and recruit them.

The afternoon passed without incident. The crowd seemed content with the games put on for them, but I wasn’t gonna take simply ‘content’, I knew I could do better. 

It was finally time for my fight, and I made my way down out of the royal box towards the sparring grounds, the crowd roaring at my appearance. I met Wade in the middle of the field, and shook his hand, as is customary, before we both returned to our sides of the field and began to undress for our bout. As I was finishing undressing, I threw my sunglasses to one lucky lady in the crowd.

The king bellowed out, magically enhanced to be heard over the crowd, “Fighters! I hope this bout is as exciting as we’re all expecting. May the best fighter win!” 

With the crown roaring behind me, me and the triton started to grapple. He was strong, but I was stronger. With a grunt, I threw him to the ground, before taunting him to get up. I had an image to portray to keep my adoring fans happy. 

The kid wasn’t the brightest, but he definitely had tenacity. He kept charging at me, which I kept sidestepping, sending him tumbling into the dirt. I played to the crowd some more before striking out at the triton.

I’ve always been proud of my punches and chops, I’ve been told they’re as powerful as a novice monk’s. When it comes to unarmed combat, being as good as a novice monk is nothing to scoff at.

While going hard at my opponent, I saw, out of the corner of my eye, the princess looking at my fight with more interest than I had seen her show to anything else while she’d been here. While not a high bar, I felt my heart flutter. 

I told myself sternly: Roven, don’t fall for her. She’s engaged to your prince.

Too late. I took another half second to glance at her, which was a mistake. Wade was better than I gave him credit for, and took the brief opening to strike out at me in a flurry.

I weathered his blows before hitting him once more with all my might, knocking the triton bloody and wavering on consciousness.

I raised my hand in victory, while the crowd of my fans cheered out my name.

As the adrenaline wore off, I began to notice all the aches and pains the kid had given me. He fought well, not that I’d ever admit it.

I put my gear back on and headed back up to the royal box, where the royal maid, Cilliah, got me patched up.

After being made right by Cilliah, I led all the important people who’d been in the royal box back to the castle, where the faint sounds of music were carried across the cool autumn air.

I always loved dances, and I had an inkling that this one would end up being an important one.


	3. Chapter 3

After seeing that the royal family and their guests were settled at the ball, I teleported to my chambers where I changed out of my armour and into some of my finer attire. 

I hurried back down to the ballroom. I quickly snuck inside and did my best to make it seem like I had been there from the start. Naturally, my course of action was to start dancing and to wait for a crowd of bodacious babes to form around me.

My victorious showing earlier seemed to have endeared me to the ladies of the court, and it wasn’t too long before a few fair ladies were dancing with and around me. Usually this many babes would keep my attention for a while, but this time I couldn’t help myself from scanning the crowd to see if I could catch a glance at the princess. 

In a down moment when the band was in-between songs, I took a moment to look at the royal table. 

The king and queen looked to be chatting with each other, but I wasn’t concerned about them now. I took a look at Austyn, their eldest son and who was the one engaged to the princess. He seemed fidgety and a bit uncomfortable with this whole thing. I know the kid well enough, and the whole diplomacy and marriage deal isn’t really his thing.

My eyes shifted over to the other end of the table, where the visitors were sitting. The princess seemed antsy as well, and she kept leaning over to say a word or two to her maid. As I was looking back to my entourage of ladies, I almost thought I saw the princess looking at me. 

I tried to shake off the idea and just keep my attention directed at the ladies I was partying with. That was tough though, as the idea that she was looking at me was almost electrifying.

The carousing lasted for hours, like most autumn festivities do. Even the guests were on the floor now, mingling with some of the more important people of our court.

Most of my dancing companions had wandered off by now. To my surprise, Celosia, the princess’ maid approached me. 

In a formal tone, she addressed me, “Sir Seldo, Princess June of House Verrona requests your presence at the tournament grounds tonight at midnight. Her royal highness would like you to wear your armaments of a tournament.”

Before I could get a word out, Celosia turned on her heel and curtly walked back to the group surrounding the princess. 

It wasn’t long after Celosia approached me that I left the party to return to my chambers. It was starting to get dark, meaning I had a few hours until my midnight appointment. It had been a long day between the fighting and the dancing. I needed to meditate on all of it.


	4. Chapter 4

I ended my trance a half hour before midnight. I felt rested and back in top form, but I couldn’t shake a feeling of anxiousness in my gut. An elandrin like me didn’t typically get nervous about anything, but a princess requesting a midnight meeting shook me up.

Nobody gave me an odd look as I walked through the castle and the grounds as I made my way to the tournament grounds. All I could think about was why would the princess want to see me, in secret, at the training grounds. It just didn’t make any sense.

I arrived at the grounds a few minutes before midnight. All I could hear was the wind rustling the leaves. The familiar sound slowed down my racing mind.

It was only a few minutes later when I made out a figure coming out of the darkness towards me. I placed a hand on my sword just to be safe.

The figure took a few steps more, and it became clear to me that it was the princess.

I wasn’t sure how to proceed, not knowing what exactly we were here for. Going off of my basic instincts for interacting with a royal, and a good bit of fear, I quickly bowed down.

I heard her chuckle then. That was the first time I’d heard her voice. She didn’t give me a chance to process the sound.

She addressed me then, “Sir Roven Seldo. I saw your bout with young Wade yesterday, it was most interesting”

Her tone was hard to read, but I did my best to regain my composure and straighten my sunglasses before I responded to her.

Doing my best to not trip over my words, I said, “Thank you your highness, Wade was a formidable opponent. It was pleasure to entertain a crowd with such esteemed guests as yourself.”

She smiled at me before speaking again, “I’m sure you can imagine I didn’t invite you out here in the dead of night just to congratulate you. I invited you out here because I was almost impressed by your unarmed strikes,” She paused to look me up and down before she continued, “I’m a monk, and I’ve trained my whole life to become the pinnacle of hand to hand combat,”

I still wasn’t sure what she wanted out of me. Maybe she wanted to beat me up for looking the wrong way at an engaged lady. 

She must have seen the confusion on my face, because she told me what she wanted, “Roven, I want to spar with you. To see what you’re really made off”. 

This perked me up, a challenge to a fight with anyone always got me excited. Even if the person challenging me was a princess who was engaged to my prince. It occurred to me that if I hurt her too badly, I could be in a lot of trouble.

I accepted her challenge, “Your highness, it would be an honour to spar with a fighter as prestigious as yourself”.

Taking a few steps back, I took off my sword and my armour, all while the princess her distance, saying nothing. Her expression was unreadable, but she definitely seemed to be evaluating me. 

After I was fit for sparring, I took a few moments to stretch out while she did the same. I couldn’t help but steal any look I could at her. This wouldn’t be an easy bout, for a wide range of reasons. 

Before we started she taunted me, gesturing for me to bring it on. Nobody taunted me, I taunted people, but nobody taunted me. I steeled my resolve and stepped forward to make the first shot.

After a couple of minutes of getting soundly thrashed, I was knocked out on my back, dazed, confused, stunned, sore, and I was certain that I had a thing for the lady who was standing over me.

I rested my head on the dirt of the sparring grounds, trying my best to stifle any groans of pain and discomfort while the princess talked down to me, literally.

With a tone in her voice that was enigmatic to my ringing ears, “Well, Roven, you didn’t do half bad. You even got a couple of good hits in,” she said with a smile.

She offered me a hand to help me get up and she spoke again, “Take me to the ballroom, I have something there I didn’t get a chance to see earlier,” She was already heading back to the castle when she spoke again, “Oh, and you can call me June now. I think we’re on a first name basis now”.

With a slight limp, I followed June to the castle. I opened the door with my master key. The perks of being the captain I suppose.

I was still walking on eggshells around June. She was leaning on the table where she had been sitting earlier in the evening. Channeling her ki, she lit up all of the candles in the hall, casting flickering shadows all across the room.

With what I think was a cheeky look in her eye, she finally told me what she was up to, “This trip has been so boring for me. I’m only here because I’m getting married, and that’s because my moms are making me. I’m sure you know how these politics work,” she said with a wave of her hand. She continued, “And I thought that I wouldn’t have fun this trip. That all changed when my maid told me the captain of the guard couldn’t stop checking me out”.

Before I could stammer out a reply, she continued on with a little giggle, “Y’know, for a big strong captain, you don’t seem so tough”.

She giggled again when I again tried to retort, but again she cut me off, “After I saw your fight with Wade, I knew I had to have a go with you. The way you looked when you were handily defeating such a good fighter was,” she trailed off, it seemed like she was searching for the right word, “irresistible”.

With words like that, I felt more in my element. Here was a beautiful lady who was into me, even if she went about coming onto me in an odd way. I suppose if you were engaged to a prince, you had to act cautiously. 

She propped herself off of the table and sauntered towards me. While walking, she kept talking, “And at the dance I kept thinking about you, Roven, that’s why I sent Celosia to invite you here tonight. All I wanted to do was dance with you, but I couldn’t be seen doing that given my circumstances”.

I stepped forward to meet her, and took her by the hand to the dance floor. I took my glasses off to look her in the eyes. She had piercing green eyes. I didn’t see greens that were so vibrant around here too often. I just knew I could get lost in those eyes.

I took her hand in mine, and placed my other hand around her waist. From there, we waltzed around the floor. I never had the best footwork, but hers was exceptional.

Before we really started to dance, I said softly to her, “Sorry we can’t have any music, I guess this’ll have to do,” but before I could say anything else too stupid, she leaned up just a bit and quickly kissed me.

A blush on both of our cheeks, she quickly got out, “Don't worry, this is lovely”.

We danced there for a while, I couldn’t tell how long. The sun wouldn't be up for a few hours more, but I didn’t want to risk anything with this. I think I really like this girl, and I really don’t want to risk anything I don’t have to risk.

I escorted her as close to the guest wing of the castle as we both felt comfortable. We parted with another kiss and a promise to see each other as often as we could, whenever we got the chance.

I walked back to my chambers with a pep in my step, and a weight in my stomach. I knew I was walking a fine line now, but for a girl like that, it was worth it.


End file.
